Today Lauren and I visited the famous Jing'an Temple. I was amazed at how the old was right in the middle of the new. I've never seen Buddahs so big before. We loved exploring the temple and we even gave an offering witht he insence. This is definitly a temple I will have to come back to....

Today we arrived in Nanjing. I learned that "jing" on the end of a word simply means city, also that Nanjing is the capital of the Jingsu Provence. It's a huge city and my favorite place is the Confusious Market Place. I found some of the best little purses and artwork and jewlery. After the market place a lady from Canad aand I went to the 1921 District. It's a place with clubs and resturants where everyone goes at night. After a long day I made it home and fell right asleep. Tomorrow we are off to our host city....

Today it was rise and shine at 3:30am. I quickly got dressed loaded the car and said good bye to my house for the next month. The airport was extreamly empty at 5:00am but the plus is that I got through security very quickly. I boarded the plane and it was off to Atlanta.
I landed in Atlanta and had to run to my next gate. My layover was only 45 minutes. WOW! Then it was off to Seatle.
As I approached Seatle I saw the space needle from my window. And as we landed I saw the most beautiful mountain behind the airport. I had a 4 hour layover...

Another sunny day. Today is sunnier and warmer than yesterday. we headed to the Han Yangling Mausoleum.
Built around 153 the Hanyang tomb is the mausoleum of Liu Qi, an emperor of the Han Dynasty. The values and customs here are depocted in small terra cotta figurines only about 60 cm high. There are statues of warriors, horses, chariots, dancers, muscians, enuchs, farm animals. Some of the figures have clothing painted on. The figures that represent upper class had silk clothing that has deteriorated away. The arms re missing as these were...

Xian has a population of 8 million expected to be 12 million by 2020! There is much construction going on. Demolishing old buildings and putting up high rises. At least they are still keeping tree lined streets and plants. Many of the trees are blooming; pink, white, purple and red colors. Cherry blossoms are abundant and looks like honeysuckle is blooming. Sun is shining today!
We visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty. It is inside a temple where some 50 to 60 monks reside. the pagoda is modeled after the...

We arrived in Xian (pronounced she on) and were greeted by Ping, our first female guide this trip.
Xian is located in central China and is ne od the oldest cities in China. It was the capital of 13 dynasties including the Qin Dynasty which unified China. as the capital of the Tang Dynasty, often considered the golden age, was where Buddhism took root in China. It was at the end of the Silk Road. At this time a large number of Muslim traders and merchants settled in the area.
The population of Xian is 8 million with 1 million students.
It is...

We drove for an hour and a half to the Mutianyu section of the great wall. On the way we saw many intersting road signs on the expressway with cute little photos. Verne took photos. We got to see some nice countryside. Very clean. We drove passed 2 waterfalls that were frozen.
The sky here is still hazy with pollution.
Bathroom stop. Out of 18 stalls, 2 were marked as potty toilets, the others were marked as squat toilets!
We took a shuttle bus to get to the cable car. Verne's memory of visiting this area was that you could drive to the...

This is the first morning that we were not awake when we received our wakeup call!
We left for Tiananmen Square. There is military standing guard by the National flag, it is raised every morning at sunrise and lowered at sunset and then the square is closed. It is also gated all the way around. It has been this way since 1998 when a 13 year old girl set fire to herself. Apparently she was a follower of an illegal religion They do not believe in medical care.
Kevin informed us that when you enter the square your cell phone loses service for...

We got up at 3 am to leave for the airport. Our flight went well, but getting out of the airport some how became a challange. We got through customs, but some how took a wrong turn and ended up in the domestic terminal. We got on the elevator and headed towards the outside, but that was wrong. We got back in the elevator and got to arrival area but then we had to start walking on where you exit so we could find our guide!
Kevin Wang is our guide. Found out he chose his English name from a choice of three his boss gave him...Tom, Jack, or...

Highlights:
Explored several cities by foot, ferry, caught a metro, survived a 25 minute cable car ride that stretches nearly 6km (3.5miles) that were lifted by 10 towers, roughly 1,000 feet off the ground ... YIKES!!! Got to enjoy a nice dim-sum lunch afterwards, and wanted to get Ritzy by showing up at the Ritz-Carlton to check out their Glitzy scenery.
Links to further investigate:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_%26_Kowloon_Ferry
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_Chung
>...

DAY 1: After nearly 14 hours of (direct) flight time on Singapore Air, we arrived at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_International_Airport, and immediately hopped on a bus to Kowloon for our 1st (5 hours) tour of the day! Not to mention time difference, that's roughly 20+ hours of pure assault to body/mind/spirit, to say the least. Why all the torture, you might be asking. Well, for one, our ship, Crystal Cruise (Symphony Line) allow boarding of all passengers after 2pm only and not any earlier, but we managed to board around 3pm and...

En cette nouvelle année calendaire et bientôt lunaire, Nous vous souhaitons tous nos meilleurs voeux pour 2015, l'année du Bouc (chèvre) !!!
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In this new gregorian year and soon a new lunar one, we would like to wish you all the best in 2015, the Year of the Goat !!!